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Upright Brewing is one of the Northwest’s brightest young talents (to put in a sporting vernacular). In just 2 years they have managed to gain a much coveted spot on ratebeer.com‘s annual Top 100 Brewers In The World List (92 position) and they came in at number 14 in the top 50 breweries to visit list. I’m fairly confident that if rate beer had made a top 50 list of best beer labels in the world that Four Play label over there would be highly ranked as well.

Needless to say, these guys are doing some really fantastic things. They’ve effortlessly coupled innovation with pristine quality and impressive craftsmanship. If you’ve had any of Upright’s beers and you’ve visited their basement brewery, I know I’m preaching to the choir. It’s mostly just exciting that they have been acknowledged so quickly, especially since so many amazing NW breweries go under the radar.

For me, being a huge fan of saisons, Upright has become a brewery that I would rank very highly in my own list of most exciting breweries, either new, old or in between. Their use of open fermentation is something that is most intriguing to me. I still don’t know much about it, but it’s clearly working very well for these Portland fellows. There is no doubt that Upright Brewing is a great inspiration to me and should be to anyone that has a dream of opening a brewery.

This anniversary party ranks up there in excitement levels (for me) with such recent Portland area events as the opening of the Cascade Barrel House and the opening of the Hair of the Dog Tasting room. The prospect of getting a few bottles of Four Play and Apricot Anniversary Ale are what cellar dwellers dream of. If anyone else is going down there let us know by adding a comment. Maybe we can hook up and chat beer.

Here’s the details from Upright:

What/Why:
Oregon’s only farmhouse inspired craft brewery Upright Brewing is turning 2 years old and celebrating with a party on Sunday March 20th from 1-6pm at the Tasting Room. The party will also mark the return of perhaps the breweries most anticipated annual release Four Play a sour farmhouse cherry wheat beer aged in Pinot Barrels.

About Upright Brewing
During the last two short years the small production brewery just east of the Broadway bridge has been devoted to producing some of Portland’s most diverse range of beers, focusing on a French/Belgian inspired farmhouse-style, but brewing without inhibition as evidenced by their historic takes on English Old Ale and Oyster Stout or their authentic German Gose and Engelberg Pilsener.

Upright recently added three new tanks, using one to produce a year-round hop forward German-style pilsener for draft only. It’s called Engelberg Pils, a nod to Mt. Angel where all of the brewery’s hops are sourced. The other two tanks will enable the brewery to produce more one-off draft beers and also allow production of at least eight annual seasonal bottled batches throughout the year. As always, the numbered beers that Upright has focused on since the beginning will continue to be fermented in our unique open-top tanks. The new year has also brought expanded distribution for Upright’s beers with Lime Ventures now bringing the bottles and occasional draft beer to the Northern California market adding even more west coast cities that include north to Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.

About Four Play
In celebration of the brewery anniversary, it’s becoming tradition to release Four Play, a very Belgian-esque beer based on Upright’s wheat beer (named Four) but barrel-aged for a year with cherries, souring yeasts and bacteria. Four Play is blended from former pinot noir barrels that yield a rosy looking sour ale with wonderfully complex aromas and flavors. It’s always a limited release and the 2011 batch is represented by only 67 cases and 3 kegs, all of which the brewers believe is their finest and suitable for cellaring up to 5 years.

About the 2 Year Anniversary Party
In addition to the extremely rare Four Play one of only 3 kegs on draft Upright will also be releasing something even more rare in bottle, last years Apricot Anniversary Ale aged in Ransom Spirits Old Tom Gin Barrels of which there are less than 3 cases of 750ml bottles. To top it off look for a special cask of this years edition of the World Beer Cup award winning Gose stuffed Dry Hops and extra Salt.

Our good friends down at Airways Brewing in Kent, WA have a lot to celebrate these days. You may have seen our article a few weeks back about their impending expansion. If not, check it out here.

Probably the most impressive thing about that piece of news is the fact that Airways is just now turning one year old. That’s an amazingly steep growth curve they’re working with. We can only hope that in 5 years they will be taking over the world. Well, lets not get too far ahead of ourselves.

In celebration of one successful year of business, Alex and Dione will be throwing a small birthday party. Here’s the details from their site:

Join us in the Airways tap room for a small celebration from 1 pm to 8 pm on Saturday, March 12 for our first birthday. We’ll have dessert provided by Down Home Catering, giveaways including tickets to Thunderbirds Fan Appreciation Night, tickets to Cask Beer Festival, and we’re even going to let our very own DJ Wick have control of the music.Join us in the Airways tap room for a small celebration from 1 pm to 8 pm on Saturday, March 12 for our first birthday.

We’ll have the big party when we open the expanded tap room next month. But, this is a good way to thank our fans and customers for what’s been a great year.

This Friday, October 22nd, Naked City Brewery & Taphouse will be celebrating its 2nd Anniversary by tapping a bunch of exciting in-house brewed specialty beers and screening the film that inspired its name.

Naked City has so quickly become a staple in the diets of Seattle’s most eager craft beer junkies, that it’s really hard to believe that they have only been around for 2 years now. They have accomplished so much in such a short period, from acquiring the proper licensing to serve their stellar in-house brewed beers, to hosting great brewers nights, to art openings, to becoming a major part of Seattle Beer Week, and so much more.

There is no doubt that NCB is one of Beer Blotter’s absolute favorite pubs in Seattle, and we are really big fans of the owners and staff as well. We are very excited to share in this occasion.

Just in case you were wondering, Naked City, the film, is a “film noir” that was produced in 1948 about a police investigation that follows the murder of a young model. Part of the movie was filmed documentary style in New York City. It was awarded an Academy Award for best cinematography and best editing and was nominated for best writing. It is definitely worth checking out if you haven’t seen it yet.

And the beers…well, check out the press release below. There is going to be some seriously exciting stuff to behold. We’ll see you there.